MORE NEWS, PANGASINAN

P’sinan execs seek loan pay moratorium
By Jennelyn Mondejar

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The provincial board of Pangasinan has passed a resolution seeking from the Land Bank of the Philippines a moratorium on loan payments until 2010 – about P11 million monthly – so the province could use the money for rehabilitation work in the aftermath of destructive typhoon “Cosme.”

In three resolutions, sixth district board member Tyrone Agabas asked the Landbank to consolidate its existing loan agreements with the provincial government, suspend payment of the consolidated loan principal and interest amortizations from this month to July 2010, and extend the period of amortization of the province’s existing loans until 2013.

Sixth district board member Alfonso Bince Jr. said this will alleviate the plight of Pangasinan, the northern province hardest-hit by Cosme, which left P1.3-billion damage to infrastructure and losses in fisheries and agriculture, among others.

“If we are paying P11 million a month and we will have a moratorium and will not pay amortization, principal and interest until 2010, we will be saving P260 million,” Bince said.

Bince previously opposed moves by the province to secure loans, but this time he said he is in favor of borrowing just to help the province. “We don’t have enough philanthropists in the province,” he said.

Landbank-Lingayen branch manager Lisa Melendez said they will wait for copies of the resolutions, adding that “any deviation from terms and conditions of the loan will be approved by the top management.”

Malou Utanes, officer-in-charge of the provincial accountant’s office, said the province has an existing loan balance of P327 million with the Landbank, from the twin loans of P350 million and P300 million secured during the term of former governor Victor Agbayani.

Utanes said the provincial board only wanted to defer the loan payments so the funds could be used to rehabilitate heavily devastated areas.

Coops help in P’sinan power rehab
SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan -- Ten Benguet Electric Coop. linemen armed with the power firm’s newest boom trucks and heavy equipments are helping restore power in Central Pangasinan.

Braving the heat, tonsillitis and fever, the linemen representing the coop in Task Force Kapatid, with other cooperatives under the National Electrification Administration helped rehabilitate power lines, and structures within the Central Pangasinan Electric Coop. area of responsibility destroyed by super typhoon Cosme.

Led by Joel Esteban, the Beneco team was among the 10 electric coops under NEA who responded immediately to the call for help of Cenpelco’s general manager Josefina Mandapat to Presidential Adviser for Rural Electrification Fr. Francisco Silva and NEA Administrator Editha Bueno, according to Rustum Velasco, Cenpelco’s technical services department manager.

“In my 17 years with Cenpelco, Typhoon Cosme was the worst typhoon we experienced. In terms of damages to physical structures, Cosme’s was twice the damage wrought by 1998’s Typhoon Gadding,” Velasco added.

A total of 1,234 poles covering 73 percent or 558 of the barangays under Cenpelco and two substations were smashed by Cosme worth P75 million.

A few days after the storm, Bueno brought P5 million initial aid to Cenpelco, followed by Silva’s P20 million to rehabilitate Cenpelco’s damaged 130 kilometers of backbone lines and structures excluding laterals, and service drops, said Velasco.

Cenpelco has an estimated 150,000 consumers from Central Pangasinan ’s 14 towns composed of Sual, Labrador , Mangatarem, Bugallon, Aguilar, Binmaley, Urbiztondo, Lingayen, Malasiqui, Alcala, Basista, Bayambang, Bautista and San Carlos City .

The Beneco team was initially tasked to restore more than 200 poles in San Carlos City where they were assigned by Cenpelco.

“We assigned the Beneco team to San Carlos because it is where the bulk of Cenpleco’s revenue comes from and they needed minimal supervision and were very supportive,” Velasco said.

San Carlos City has about 35,000 consumers, Velasco added, and one week after the storm, Cenpelco with help from Beneco was able to restore power in only 20 percent of the city concentrated in the Poblacion.

“This was due to the devastating amount of damage of Cosme. Marami silang inaayos na nabuwal na mga kahoy na sumira sa mga poste at linya. Kung tutuusin wala na ngang pahinga mga taga Beneco kasi nasabak kaagad sila pagdating nila noong Tuesday after Cosme,” said Velasco. “Sa dami at extent ng damage marami pa dapat gawin, sana i-extend pa yung task force kung pwede.”

According to Velasco, in 1998 it took them to two three months to recover from Typhoon Gadding’s damage, while with Cosme, Velasco said it will probably take Cenpelco five to six months to achieve full restoration.